Various food products can be prepared or cooked in accordance with taste preference of an individual. Meat items, in particular, are cooked to the taste preference of a specific person. Such meat items may include steaks, pork chops, hamburger patties, roasts, racks and the like. For some such meat items, including beef, veal, and lamb, a cooking selection often is made from known taste preferences or health requirements, including rare, medium rare, medium, medium well, and well done.
Food thermometers have been used to indicate the amount that a food product is cooked, referred to herein as its “doneness.” Most of these food thermometers incorporate a probe that is inserted into the food. The probe communicates with a temperature-measuring device. In certain food thermometers, the user must insert the probe into the food item prior to, or in the early stages of cooking, particularly when the food is being cooked in an enclosed oven, grill or the like.
Many food thermometers provide a direct reading of the temperature of the cooking food at the location of the probe. With this approach, the user is required to be aware of the significance of the food temperature insofar as it correlates to the extent of doneness that is desired or required for a particular type of meat, or other food item. Most individuals are entirely unaware as to what temperature the interior of a chicken breast, for instance, needs to be cooked, instead relying on an interior or exterior color of the cooking food. A device is needed that can provide not only the temperature of cooking food, but also the level of doneness of the food.
Food thermometers further limit the mobility of a user. In order to prevent over-cooking the food item, the user may need to observe the thermometer constantly or calculate the amount of time until the user is required to recheck the thermometer. This limits mobility of the user to a range needed to observe the thermometer and requires knowledge by the user of the speed at which the food is cooking.
Thus, a heretofore-unaddressed need exists in the industry to address the aforementioned deficiencies and inadequacies.